The Guardian reported that Italy's foreign minister said that Iran's nuclear program is testing the resolve of the international community, and the world needs a unified approach to the escalating diplomatic standoff.

The Iranian Bomb - Troubling Developments.

The Jerusalem Post reported that an Iranian exile group claimed that Tehran has acquired banned nuclear weapons machinery that "are able to simultaneously use pressure and heat to produce uranium spheres for production of nuclear bombs."

Mehran Riazaty reported that The Germany’s BND Foreign Intelligence Service claimed that Iran will have atomic bomb in next several months.

The US Struggle for a new Iran policy.

The Washington Post reported that at the heart of an informal review of US Iran policy the goal isto change the character of a regime.

The New York Times reported that the Bush administration and European officials said that they want to avoid causing hardship or more anti-Western resentment in the Iranian public.

Reutersreported that the State Department is spending millions of dollars to boost democracy in Iran, but added, the U.S. goal was not to overthrow the Iranian government via these grants.

Vance Serchuk, The Weekly Standadrd argued that there is much the US can do to pressure the Iranian regime to give up its nuclear program.

Is the window closing to support an internal regime change?

Joe Katzman, Winds of Change.net argued why failure to support an internal regime change inside of Iran will likely lead to at least 10 million dead.

The Military Developments.

The Washington Times argued that it's not likely that military action short of overthrowing the current regime could eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat.

Counter Terrorism Blog reminded us that Iran had bought 18 disassembled BM-25 missiles from North Korea which can easily be launched from [a] freighter modified with launch tubes and blast channels.

Ahmadinejad's Other Troublemaking.

Yahoo Newsreported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Damascus with the leaders of 10 radical Palestinian movements.

Zaman.com reported that Iran has reduced the amount of natural gas to Turkey, causing a crisis in Turkey.

Iran Focusreported that Ahmadinejad appointed, Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, as the new head of the National Security Council. Pour-Mohammadi was a notorious former deputy intelligence minister, whose agents “systematically engaged in extra-judicial killings of opposition figures.

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

Eli Lake, The New York Sundiscussed the opportunity for the academic left to abandon its neutrality in the war between Iranians and the mullahs who hold them captive.

Francis Fukuyama, The Wall Street Journal reported on a Web site that comes online today and documents the individual stories of the victims of the Iranian regime.

Columnist at www.windsofchange.net points out that the Iranian people don't have the guts to revolt...even if we invade.

If we don't have an indigenous army of "Iranians" trained and ready now...then the Hildebeast was right when she criticized the President for being caught flatfooted by Iran's nuke program.

Many people say that the President should wait until *after* the Midterm elections to move on Iran.

I say the opposite should be the case. We need to conduct a takedown of the regime by this summer. If it really looks like this administration hasn't prepared an amazing "takedown" play for Iran...many independents in the middle will look toward a Biden here, a Hildebeast there...and maybe stop looking at the Republicans as being tough on national security.

Tehran is preparing to open a bourse, a mercantile (commodity) exchange and potentially a futures/options market to be traded only in Euros, they claim the American Dollar will not be utilized to hurt US.

Besides crude oil, natural gas and pistachio nuts, just what other major commodities does the Mullah Inc think traders (without a brain) will be trading in the Shi'ite center for global jihad? Persian rug options?

Maybe they could try neckties, since nobody wears them in the Iranian ruling régime, since they too are "Western". Gezz, I wonder if Assad is knows what the score on this one? :)

The obvious threat is to deal what they hope to be a significant blow to the position of worldwide power the US Dollar in relation to the Euro and also try and sink major American stock indexes, sounds like economic warfare in conjunction to Tehran's jihadist terrorist war against the West. DOW Chart beginning to look bearish

Iran, the second-largest crude oil producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, exports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day - 1 million barrels more than current excess production capacity worldwide. It also controls the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane in the Middle East, but that so-called control could be altered very quickly through the U.S. Navy, British Navy & other allied navies and then how would Iran transport her oil & natural gas to awaiting customers? James Bartis, a senior researcher at Rand Corp stated "Even if Iran pulled a small amount of its oil off the market, say it pulled a half million barrels a day, I could see oil prices literally jumping over the $100 per barrel mark," so my advice is hop on board now before prices race off the charts.

"It's a very difficult situation where you don't know which side is going to blink first," said Leonard Spector, deputy director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

It should be known that India, which imports 75 percent of the crude it consumes, some from Iran, is a wild card in any meaningful sanctions directed against Iranian energy products. Recall Moscow a strong ally of Tehran and Beijing, also selling the Iranians various 'items' have a vote on the Security Council on what to do about Iran, once it is referred.

I said months ago that the true WMD the Islamofascist hold against us is Oil. The Party of Death (Dumocrats) is adamant on bringing the US to our knees. Thus their campaigns to keep America held hostage by these thugs.

If any one believes that GW won't push that red button better think again. My message to the sane democracy loving people of Iran is get out now, this has no place to go but from bad to worse.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.